New Delhi: Royal Dutch Shell on Thursday said it will open a third global hub for technology and innovation in Bengaluru as part of its plans to technology footprint in Asia.

"Today, Shell laid the foundation stone for a brand new technology facility in Bengaluru, India, which marks the next step in the company's expansion into developing technology in Asia," the company said in a statement here.

The bespoke research and technology site will house up to 1,500 technology specialists who will work on some of Shell's key projects globally.

Speaking on the occasion, Shell's Director for Projects & Technology Matthias Bichsel, said, "This world-class technology hub, encompassing much of Shell's innovative scientific and engineering capability, will be the largest centre of its kind in this part of the world and fits with our strategy of building a company which is led by technology."

"We see a clear need to align our technology capabilities with our future growth markets. Both India and China, where we recently strengthened our technology footprint, are exciting prospects for us, as well as Asia more broadly," Bichsel said.

Shell employs around 900 research and development staff in two separate facilities. This new development, spread over 40 acres at Devanhalli, Bengaluru, will expand that number to around 1,500 and provide new opportunities for collaboration across discipline and departmental boundaries, promoting innovative thinking.

It will become one of Shell's three global technology hubs, which will be supported by other research centres across the organisation's portfolio.

The teams in Bengaluru currently support Shell's pioneering floating, liquefied natural gas facility (FLNG), and also giant projects such as Majnoon in Iraq, Sakhalin in Russia, Abadi in Indonesia, and Arrow in Australia.

And aligning with Shell's growth strategy for integrated gas, a new 20-strong LNG team has also been established.

"Shell's decision to strengthen our scale of R&D in India has been greatly influenced by the quality of talent and work that we have experienced here," said Yasmine Hilton, Chairman, Shell Companies in India.

The new site for Shell Technology Centre, operational in around the middle of the decade, will encompass the full breadth of Shell's scientific and engineering capability by providing a focus for fundamental and applied research to sit alongside subsurface and facility engineering.

Its services will span upstream exploration and production activities; technology for downstream refinery and chemical operations and products; computational science and fundamental research.